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Their repertoire for two pianos is manifold: besides popular compositions as Mozart sonatas or “Til Eulenspiegel” by Richard Strauss, Tal & Groethuysen play unknown works by Babin or Casella. They regularly inspire their audiences with the Rheinberger/Reger transcription of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. In August 2015 the duo premiered Reinhard Febel’s arrangement of “Die Kunst der Fuge” of J. S. Bach, that has specially been elaborated by the arranger for Tal & Groethuysen.
They nevertheless don’t neglect the piano literature for four hands. Thus Schubert, Dvorak‘s „Slawische Tänze“, as well as rarely heard arrangements, such as Mendelssohn Oktett, the Hebrides‘ Ouverture for four hands, or Brahms’ arrangement of his piano concerto no. 1 for four hands.
The exclusive cooperation with the record company SONY CLASSICAL (more then 30 CDs in the last 20 years) makes up an important part of their international success: The Duo Tal & Groethuysen has released numerous recordings of piano music for four hands (largely world première recordings e.g. of pieces by Carl Czerny, Reinhard Febel, Theodore Gouvy, Charles Koechlin, Felix Mendelssohn, Max Reger, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner) which have brought them great acclaim from critics and the public alike.
Their CD's have won the coveted “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” no less than ten times, while the German Phono Academy has awarded its “ECHO Klassik”-Prize to five of their recordings, including the complete recordings of Schubert's music for four hands and the complete Mozart piano duos. Other awards from outside Germany, such as the “Cannes Classical Award“,“Editor's Choice“ by Gramophone and the “Supersonic Award“ reflect their high international reputation.
Past releases include Bach's Goldberg Variations in a two-piano version by Joseph Rheinberger, Brahms' 1st Piano Concerto in his own four-hand piano version, the Slavonic Dances by Antonín Dvořák - and in 2012 finally the Double Piano Concerto by Ralph Vaughan Williams which was awarded by the “ECHO-Klassik”-Prize 2013. Furthermore, in 2013, the duo launched the highly acclaimed CD “Götterdämmerung” with arrangements by Debussy, Dukas, Reger and Alfred Pringsheim (world premier recording) for two pianos. In May 2013 the recording has been awarded with the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik” in the category piano music. In February 2014, SONY Classical released the new recording Mozart & Czerny - Concertos for two Pianists & Orchestra (Münchner Rundfunkorchester; Bruno Weil). The Petit messe solemnelle of Gioacchino Rossini followed in April 2014 (with the Choir of the BR Symphony Orchestra). Yaara Tal published her first solo album with Joseph Haydn's Seven last words of Christ. After a further album released in 2015 called 1915, including works of Claude Debussy and Reynaldo Hahn (and awarded with the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik”), the latest release, called Colors, includes two-piano transcriptions of orchestral pieces by Claude Debussy and Richard Strauss. A second solo album of Yaara Tal presents Polonaises of Mozart's son Franz Xaver Mozart, and the young Frédérik Chopin.
Since the semester 2014/15 the duo has been appointed to a professorship at the Mozarteum Salzburg.
The actual season 2018/19 includes invitations of the duo to Salzburg, to Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, to Cologne (WDR), to Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and to summer festivals such as Soli Deo Gloria, Bachwoche Ansbach and Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival. The duo will record the concertos for 2 pianos and orchestra from Anton Eberl and Jan Ladislav Dussek with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Reinhard Goebel in December – following then in summer the recording of the composition „Studien über Bachs Kunst der Fuge“ by Reinhard Febel, which the latter has dedicated to Tal & Groethuysen.
Yaara Tal will release her third solo album with works of the cosmos around Clara Schumann. All recorded works are dedicated to members of the Schumann family – among those the so called Alto Rhapsody by Brahms in a new instrumentation for tenor (Julian Prégardien), women choir (BR-Chor) and piano.
Get more information under: www.tal-groethuysen.de
As of: Season 2018/2019
Please use this by Weigold & Böhm authorized Biography only.
